U Goom: A new beginning
by Peachrocks
Summary: A new year has started at U Goom and is set up to be the wildest one on record! Includes a lot of favourites from Paper Mario 1 and 2 as well as new characters.
1. A professor’s dilemma

After much procrastination this fic is finally underway. While it uses several Legend of The 9 orbs characters, it's assumed the story never happened. However in Chicken Miasma's epic fic 'Better off Alone' the events specified in the past of that fic have happened should it become relevant.

Goombella stood in Professor Frankly's office at U Goom, she was about 5 minutes early for her meeting with Professor Frankly, but she always planned to arrive early for meetings. His office was unusually tidy, it was the beginning of the year and one of the cleaning staff sorted out the Professor's bookcases. Frankly had his books placed in an exact order which were usually in an 'orderly mess' by the end of the second week. Unlike most other species however, Goombas have the excuse that they have no arms and tidying up with their feet is very time consuming not to mention difficult.

The new semester was about a week off, Goombella was due to be Frankly's research assistant this year so she wasn't so surprised to be called in to U Goom, she expected him to talk business about what they'll be doing and what they hope to achieve.

"Good morning Goombella" the Professor entered the newly cleaned office "They did a good job didn't they?"

"Yes Professor… ever considered keeping it this way?"

"Kolorado once asked me that, and it's something I've tried to do every year since. Anyway Goombella, what I called you in for today was something of great concern"

Something of great concern? After the thousand year door, Goombella wasn't quite sure what to think when Frankly said that.

"Now now, no need to look so grave Goombella. We are concerned about attendance numbers at U Goom this year. They have dropped considerably, in fact we are keeping applications open for longer then ever in the history of U Goom simply to get bums in seats. Even some of our teachers are giving this job up because they are getting better offers in other fields"

Goombella gave a sigh of relief in her head "Why do you think there is an attendance shortage this year professor?"

"There could be several reasons, it seems more people are getting into sports this year and stuff like that, the Glitz Pit also expanding and its advertising is even on these very walls here at U Goom. What the higher ups want us to do is to come up with a new way of making others come back to this place, make them use their minds instead of the fists or whatever"

"I heard Koops was considering signing up, do you know if we got his application"

"Not sure on that, I'll check, but if Koops is coming maybe Vivian will attend too, you know how those two are"

"I don't see Vivian coming to U Goom Professor"

"Maybe not but you never know. What I want you to do Goombella is gather anybody who might be interested in joining up with U Goom, start with those you travelled with, then you had some friends in Glitzville did you not? I've sent a message to Kolorado asking he do the same as he'll be teaching this year too. So will you do this for me? For U Goom?"

Goombella smiled "Sure Professor, no problem" As she left Goombella's face and words were the opposite of what she was thinking. Advertising U Goom in Glitzville would be a bit too optimistic but Frankly was a bit of an intellectual and she understood the way he saw things.

She walked out the door to his office and then walked down the hall way out of the archaeology complex of U Goom and into the fresh air. She wasn't sure how she would go about her objective but guessed she'd start in Glitzville first. Lost in her thoughts she suddenly tripped on something landing flat on her face in the grass. She heard the click of a camera, got herself up and saw who it was. It was a female Goomba and a Paratroopa both around her age.

"That's a good look for you, maybe you should stay like that" The female Goomba laughed as her Paratroopa partner held up the photo of the fallen Goombella proudly hoping to get a reaction out of her

"Aliciagoom, we don't start for another week, can't you leave me alone until then? Or did you miss me so much you had to come see me now"

"Yuck! No way, for your information I am here to see Professor Frankly. I don't care that you helped the Great Gonzales defeat the shadow queen and did all that other stuff, including beating my precious Rawk Hawk. As my rival, I am so beating you this year" Aliciagoom looked at her determined

Goombella seemed less then impressed "Still a shameless Rawk Hawk fangirl I see. Well whatever, I guess I'll see you later, unfortunately"

The Paratroopa decided to say something important "You'd better believe it, Aliciagoom's gunna own your goodie two shoes ass"

"Who's your new lackey Alicia and how much did you bribe him?"

"Prrft… I do not need to resort to such measures. My family has been rich for decades because we know exactly how to make the right friends"

"Yeah she gave me 200 coins to take the photo, praise her while shouting out random insults at you, but really she's pretty cool to hang out with"

"PARAKENNY you idiot!" Aliciagoom screamed out as she went to multibonk the Paratroopa

Goombella sighed walking off while Aliciagoom was giving a beat down to her 'partner'

As Aliciagoom continued to bonk Parakenny she was also watching Goombella leave the area. Once she left Aliciagoom stopped and let Parakenny flutter back up.

"Okay, now we follow her"

Parakenny rubbed his head "Don't you have to see Professor Frankly?"

For this Parakenny received another headbonk "Of course not you moron, that was only a cover story like I told you before. Goombella is apparently Professor Frankly's research assistant this year, I want to find out what trick she pulled"

"Maybe saving the world had something to do with it"

"Trust her to get the chance to save the world and I bet Gonzales did everything while she just cried in fear all the time. Gonzales probably cheated his way through everything too"

"Uh right… anyway shouldn't we be following her?"

"Yes, your right… for once, let us go"

Twilight Trail

Koops and Vivian had been sitting on a log, staring into the moon silently enjoying each others company for the past thirty minutes. Vivian closed her eyes and smiled as she leaned against Koops, his shoulders like a typical Koopa were hard, but to Vivian they were like the warmest, softest and safest place she knew.

However he suddenly jerked forward a little surprising her "Vivian" he said softly

"Yes Koops" she replied still in a dream state

"My application for U goom got accepted today"

"That's great! …Isn't it?" Vivian sensed a lowering tone in his voice sensing something was not right

"Well yeah… but… aside from Goombella, I'm going to be all alone and I'm sure Goombella has other friends"

Vivian didn't know what to say "Oh, I'm sure Goombella will look out for you though"

"Maybe, but I also got a message from Goombella saying that U goom are extended applications because of low attendance numbers"

"Yes I'll go"

"Go where?"

"To U Goom, that's where you were leading with all this weren't you?"

Koops blushed and it took him a good 10 seconds to recover "But… what will you do?"

"Oh? I'll do law and politics, that's what you are doing isn't it?"

"Yeah, but those are really harsh subjects Vivian. Not saying you can't handle it but don't just do this for me"

"I had thought about it a while back, but I thought applications had closed, so it works out great"

"Oh… that's good" Koops gave a shy smile as the two stared into the moonlight once more

Glitzville

Goombella had arrived in Glitzville via the blimp but little did she know that once Aliciagoom caught on her plans she too got on the blimp at the last second and remained hidden in the large crowd while she demanded Parakenny remain hidden in his shell until they got off the blimp.

Glitzville had changed a little bit since her last visit, mostly everything had got bigger, she spotted a familiar looking yellow shelled Koopa eating a hot dog with another red shelled one.

"Hey King K, how's it been?"

K waved in the middle of chewing and tried to speak but the combination didn't work well and he dropped the hot dog making a mess on the floor. "Uh… hey" K replied slightly embarrassed

Goombella smiled seeming to think nothing of it "So how's life been treating you?"

"Not bad, but your friend Waffles has been chewin' through the ranks! Or more commonly known as The Great Gonzales Jr. I just can't get myself to call him that you know what I'm sayin'?"

"He'll always be Waffles to us"

The other Koopa was seemingly lost in this entire conversation "Care to introduce K?"

"Oh yeah sorry man, AJ, Goombella, Goombella, AJ" King K was rarely formal or proper in anything he did, but AJ was used to it "You in Glitzville for a reason or for fun?"

As Goombella explained her story about U Goom and the Professor asking her to find anybody willing, Aliciagoom and Parakenny meanwhile had completely forgotten that she was following Goombella getting lost in the glory of Glitzville.

"Oh Glitzvillle, I love it here. OH and look the hot dog shop has got a new item since I was here last! And the juice bar has been redone! And the pit is even larger then before" Aliciagoom ran and stared at each building as she spoke of it

"I have got to have a hot dog! Like yesterday!"

As Aliciagoom wondered about she looked at the newly placed neon light sign placed high on the front side of the roof it read 'Next Fight: The Great Gonzales Junior versus Rawk Hawk'

"Oh wow! I get to see Rawk Hawk in action, LIVE! This is turning into a great trip!"

Aliciagoom went inside and took her seat in the crowd, Parakenny soon followed her hotdog in hand and fluttered down next to her. Neither fighter was up on the stage yet.

"So this is Glitzville. So awesome" Parakenny looked around and nodded approvingly

"Yeah, you can cut the tension with a knife, it's unbelievable"

"Goodie two shoes at 9'oclock"

"What are you going on about? Oh?" Aliciagoom looked around and saw what Parakenny referred to as Goombella. Two Koopas were with her "Leave her, whatever old Frankly said to her could not have possibly led her to Glitzville, it was probably nothing"

More accurately Aliciagoom did not care to find out, between watching Rawk Hawk live and spying on Goombella it was a no contest in her mind. However when Jolene came out on the stage it was obvious she did not have good news, it was apparent she was rather upset.

"This match has been cancelled"

The crowd let their dissatisfaction be known with Booing and shouting random nonsense

"Due to a lack of… funding, the Glitz pit… will be closing for an unknown length of time" it seemed something had really upset Jolene as she then went off the stage

Goombella looked cynically to K "I smell a rat. It's not like Jolene to let her feelings be known is it? "

"Naw, it's not, but I'm willin' to bet Andy knows somethin', even if part of the story he tells is made up"

Goombella had a quick glance around "I think I got it worked out, have you seen any guards at all?"

"She's right K, I thought that too. This is my first time so I thought they could be blending in with the crowd or something, but apparently not"

However just at that moment a brawl had broken out within the crowd, it seemed they weren't the only ones to work out there wasn't any security.

"No fight! What is THIS! Lack of funding, YEAH RIGHT! Fight! Fight! Fight!"

Goombella knew that voice… it was Aliciagoom's, she sighed again on hearing it "Let's get out of…" Goombella stopped her sentence as she dodged a spiny thrown by someone and the three tried to head to the west side door.

"Not so fast" Parakenny tried to fly into Goombella but he collecting King K instead sending him backwards a few steps sending him hard into the wall but his shell took a lot of the impact.

"Hey, nobody cheap attacks me and gets to brag about it" K gained a bit of height and stood on a chair before doing a shell toss from the height he was at to stun Parakenny hitting him in the jaw crashing him to the ground, K then dropped his elbow on the Paratroopa's face for good measure.

"Ow… not fair" Parakenny muttered

As they got into the hallway they heard somebody approaching the ring as well and instinctively drew defensive stances however it was only Bandy Andy.

"What's happening in there? Did Rawk Hawk lose and his fans went nuts?"

Goombella shook her head "No, the pit is apparently no more. We have a hunch it's to do with security"

"It is. I spied on their meeting from a secret hole in the ceiling of Jolene's office I bet nobody knows about"

Once Andy noticed nobody seemed impressed he continued "Apparently the company that trained all of the security guards aren't happy with the way Jolene is doing things, her plans for expanded the pit, and while it's a tiny bit to do with finance, that security company simply doesn't want to train anymore guards, so they all left in protest, and Jolene didn't want a riot happening but she knew it would happen anyway, that's why she was so distressed, her reputation is a mess and all of that, but she'll bounce back, I'm sure"

After Andy got all his facts out K had a quick idea "Hey Goombella, you said that U Goom does some sports right? You think they'd support some of the fighters"

"Uh, to fight? Probably not, I'd have to put that through Professor Frankly, at this stage he'd do almost anything, but he doesn't want a bunch of idiots at U Goom"

"Naw I know, there's only a few actually I think who'd want to show up, and we'll ask em, you won't get Glitzville on your front lawn. AJ you want in don't you?"

"Do I? Of course I want in"

"You'll still have to work hard you know. K and Andy how about you?"

K laughed "Me at U Goom? Well I'll think about it, but I wonder what I could possibly do"

Andy nodded "Yup, I want to go into business, so this is a great chance to get access to some qualifications"

Goombella seemed very pleased with herself, there was one other who she believed she could persuade into joining U goom despite his age. She went off to the now unguarded major league locker room and found a discontented Waffles, nobody else was in here.

"NO!" was Waffles' immediate answer when Goombella got her question out

"Aw come on, what are you going to do now anyway! Wonder around the streets of Rogueport picking a random fight and money of the street?"

"Sounds like a plan, you're onto something" Waffles tried to walk away from Goombella but she blocked him

"I can't make a decision for you, but whether you like to admit it or not you won't be able to fight forever"

"Going to U Goom means I won't be able to fight at all, what use is that!"

"I'll speak to the Professor, I'll see if I can get some kind of program going. Besides there is a new course this year, it's based on the history of fighting styles, it's taught by a Toad known only as The Master, I thought of you when I heard about that course"

Waffles seemed to be wavering "Can you actually make a life out of that? I mean, I know I can't fight forever… but maybe after that"

"Not entirely sure but I imagine it would sort of follow my field in archaeology where there is argument, debate, searching of evidence and determining the history of things. So I think you might have to do that too if you were going to do that as a career"

"Fine, I'll do it, but what if…" Waffles seemed a little embarrassed

"What if what?"

"What if it's too hard for me?"

She gave an encouraging smile "I think you are smarter then you allow yourself to be or what you show to anybody else. I'll look out for you, and if it's too hard we'll just see what else we can do"

By now the brawl had simmered down and fortunately did not get too far out of hand, only a few were hurt with minor injuries. Goombella emailed her positive news to the Professor with all the names she had and her question about the fighters, but felt somewhat guilty taking advantage of Jolene's misfortune. About 5 minutes later the Professor had replied.

Goombella,

You are not the only one who brings good news, Kolorado too has brought together a lot of heads together, mainly thanks to Kooper bringing together a few of his former partners. In addition there was a delay in applications from Isle Delfino and we got better then expected numbers from them.

Our teacher ad has gone down well and I'm told we have already filled a lot of positions, it seems the high name of U Goom still means something. Some of the teachers you may even be familiar with including Madame Flurrie, who will be teaching drama and Admiral Bobbery who will be teaching a special course in navigation which I'm sure will be a lot of fun for those into that kind of thing. It seems also that Glitz Pit promoter Jolene is having a career change, she has applied here to teach Administration, I'm guessing in office but it could be retail, on this list I've got in front of me it's not very specific. I guess we'll find out in time.

As for your request for the fighters, you are not the first to have such a request, in fact the Master from Toad Town said he would not teach unless there was a place where one could 'prove their skills', in short that's a yes.

Thank you once more for your help

Professor Frankly

Goombella shut off the mailbox SP. She no longer felt any guilt about Jolene, she probably had the whole thing planned from when she knew her application had been accepted knowing she could not save Glitzville. Of course only Jolene knew all the facts but in the long run the details were not really important.

It was then she put everything together, applicants from Isle Delfino? This would be the first year they've taken them from that far, in addition to those she and Kooper had put together today and on top of that there was the new 'sports' now offered, it would probably turn out to be the most unpredictable, chaotic yet exciting year on U Goom's record.

A/N 1: A little in joke in Paper Mario that a lot people I've spoken to have actually missed. In one of the mails from the Rogueport restoration committee it mentions about the shop and how nobody knows it exists. If you get Goombella to tattle Glitzville, she notices the hot dogs, the pit and the juice bar and completely neglects the shop :D. I figured it be only fair that even Rawk Hawk enthusiast Aliciagoom would not care for it either.

A/N 2: I always thought Waffles/Yoshi was a little smarter then he lets on and wasn't just muscle. Also he's too cool to resist not using in this story.


	2. University? What's that?

Thanks for your reviews guys, you've beaten my record of 4 positive reviews on first chapter with 5 positive reviews yayness.Let's see what some of the other characters are up to…

Bowser's castle

Bowser is peacefully sitting on his throne, plotting his next hostile takeover. That is until a certain Paratroopa flies into the castle. It is Parakarry the mailman.

"Mail call"

Bowser stood up in a rage "YOU! What is the meaning of this? You're very brave to attack alone… huh Junior?"

"Thanks Parakarry" Bowser Junior handed the Paratroopa some coins and accepted the delivery

Parakarry accepted the coins "Been quiet lately, the work load seems to be considerably less since the mailbox SP came about but still you can't deliver packages with that so I'm not totally out of work, anyway happy reading" Parakarry flies off

Bowser watched the Paratroopa leave "Did you order something by mail?"

Junior looked at his dad with a sarcastic expression "No, Parakarry flew all the way to your castle just to socialise. OF COURSE I ordered something"

"FINE what did you order then?"

"Just this book"

"You are reading? Why don't you play your 'Destroy the Mushroom Kingdom game: Featuring Bowser' I love that game"

"The story line stinks. It's so stupid, I mean the ending is you conquering the Mushroom Kingdom, Peach marrying you and having me as your child"

Bowser was outraged "How DARE you! I wrote that ENDING! Go to your ROOM!"

"Oh yes please, send me to my room, I've got a fridge, an oven, a Gamecube, widescreen TV…" Junior listed the things Bowser put in his room just to make him happy "I knew you wrote the storyline because I don't think Peach's attendant is called Toadwhatshisname"

"Don't change the subject WHAT did you get delivered?" Bowser demanded

"If you gotta know what it is it's a course book on this place called U Goom, I wanna go there"

"Junior that place is a uni-ver-sity, it is where people go to learn" Bowser explained it to Junior like he couldn't understand

Junior ignored being talked down to "I wanna conquer the world so I gotta outsmart everyone else"

Bowser grinned and laughed loudly "Now! I like the way you are heading with that thought, you go, read that book and study hard"

"Sure thing Pa" Bowser Junior then walked off to his room

Junior grinned to himself, pulling the wool over Bowser's eyes was so easy, he didn't care for conquering the world, he just wanted a valid excuse to get out of the castle for sometime, maybe cause some trouble at U goom, depending on his mood, but maybe not.

Isle Delfino – Bianco Hills

Patey Piranha held a baseball bat with one rolled up leaf, his considerably larger brother Petey prepared to spit out the ball, Petey pitches and Patey watches the ball carefully, moving into position, charging his swing before the ball was upon him and swinging smacking the ball a long distance away. It well out of Bianco Hills and headed into the plaza

"Nice hit, that's gone some distance, you've improved" Petey nodded his oversized head in appreciation

"Thanks" Patey shrugged in a half hearted fashion "I should be going off to U Goom you know"

"Yes I know, I'm going to start terrorising the locals as soon as you are gone"

"Do you have to? Why can't you just leave everybody alone? Or actually be nice, I know that might be forbidden for you but I'm just sick of people giving me stares because of you make us look bad"

"I wouldn't be Petey Piranha if I didn't throw up, making a huge mess occasionally"

"Well whatever, I can't change your mind, but if you somehow get caught by the Pianta police squad, don't expect me to break you out. On the other hand maybe I should be concerned, they'll probably mistake me for you!"

Petey looked guilty for about half a second "Fine! I'll wait a while so you are well and truly out of the firing line"

"Well at least that's something I don't have to worry about… I'll see you, hopefully not behind bars" Patey took his bag from the ground and headed back towards Delfino Plaza.

Delfino Plaza

A blue pianta holds his head down, he wears a black jacket and sunglasses, black shoes to match, his manner suggests somebody who does not like talking much, this Pianta is known only as Gerato, an alias that hides any connection to his past. Just at that moment however a baseball hits Gerato on the top of the head but missing his palm tree.

"DAMN IT!" Gerato shouts out raising his fist "Why could I be so unlucky to take a step like that at that moment for a baseball to hit my forehead…"

"Wow man smile, it IS funny, imagine a baseball falling to land right in the forehead, not on the palm tree but on the forehead. Yo, TAKE YOUR BASE!"

Gerato looks up and sees another red male Pianta with similar clothes to his own looked around his age, but a completely different expression on his face, he is grinning like an idiot and has his palm tree slicked back, probably in a dumb attempt to look cool "You look like a dork, get LOST"

However the other Pianta didn't budge playfully punching Gerato on the arm "Aw come on, I'm cool and you know it. Name's Piantayan, and you are?"

"Names only matter in the graveyard and that's where you'll be heading if you don't get out of my way you TURD! You are the most annoying guy on Isle Delfino"

"That's plain stupid. Somebody as antisocial as you has spoken to everyone on Isle Delfino?"

"PAH! Moron" Gerato picked up the baseball and threw it directly at Piantayan before storming off. Piantayan rubbed between his eyes, but despite all the negative energy Gerato sends out and being pitched a baseball at close range the stupid grin of his never left his face

"Man that guy had issues, ah well" Piantayan shrugged off the encounter before heading for the shops

Piantayan bought some chips and chuckola cola, he was heading to U goom was and wasn't sure when dinner would be so brought a bit of food with him before heading to the docks where the ship was ready to head off. Of course when got to the docks he ran into a familiar face.

Gerato obviously was less then pleased "You again! Do you want to die that badly? I've read a thousand ways to break somebody's neck using only your fingers"

"How cool, maybe you can show me. I watched Toadinator 6 last night, you into movies much?"

"Piffle" Gerato muttered he had given up on trying to intimidate Piantayan, at least for now. It was so irritating, that stupid grin just would not budge!

"Well anyway, where you heading on this ship"

"U Goom! Now will you go away!" Gerato snapped

Piantayan's eyes lit up as he opened the pack of chips and started munching "AWESOME so am I! I mean I know I'll get there a bit in advance, but I want to check out, get settled before it all starts"heoffered some to Gerato who took a handful rudely and threw them into his mouth.

Geratofigured the best way to shut him up was not give him anything to comment on, but knowing his luck every class he was taking the perky dork would be in as well. Piantayan on the other hand was not a complete idiot, he only acted like it, and knew Gerato would not actually ever do much but he would still get a reaction by merely speaking to Gerato, which was more fun for him.

Leincart – Capital City

A black squeek, an orange sheeted duplighost and a blue Birdo walk the streets of the capital of Leincart, a place not far from Rougeport and easily accessible by water. However it isknown for its icy climateand today is no exception as light snow falls on the already snow covered streets.

"You didn't have to come out with me" the Squeek looked back behind her as she walks onwards

The Duplighost piped up cheerfully "We were bored anyway, there was like nothing to do! So Birdy and I decided to come out"

"Speak for yourself Duplica, I happened to be doing something important, until you dragged me out, where its cold, icy and DAMN freezing" Birdy replied in a equally chilling way to that of the weather but then lightened her expression when she spoke again "Saying which… Mirage what are we doing here anyway?"

"Shopping" Mirage's one word answer puzzled both her friends as they came to the largest shopping complex in Leincart.

Finding the supermarket Mirage looked to her two friends once again "Meet back here in 15 minutes, I have stuff I want to do quickly"

Duplica's face dropped "Can't we come with you?"

"Would you stop SAYING WE?" Birdy snapped again

"You really want to go into the crowded supermarket?"

"Fair enough, I suppose. I know what I want to do!See you later Mirage"

Mirage went into the supermarket. Making sure her friends or anybody else didn't tail her, she circled the isles three times and heads to the back of the supermarket where there is a plastic double doors. Mirage ignored the staff only sign and spots several crates of 'Yoshi biscuits now in a can'. Moving on she comes to a brown door located in a deep corner of the huge store room. Checking one final time to see if anybody else was behind her she puts in the number on the keypad lock then swiped a card through the slot above the keypad.

Mirage sighed deeply "Ah all the security measures just to have a few words"

There was one last 'security measure' as Mirage came into a small room with a camera located in every corner of the room and scanned varying features of her. Finally the last door opened and Mirage came to an office setting with a formal looking desk and computer with a Toad woman working on it.

"Koopfina is waiting for you, second to the left as usual" the Toad told her without even greeting her, or asking her any questions

Mirage nodded curtly and went to the room she was told to go

A middle aged female Koopa is reading over bunches of paper work. She leans back on her chair looking up towards the ceiling. Her mind wanders about recent events and her most recent assignment, to become a law teacher at U goom. She had no idea why they wanted her to do this, but at least she was not alone.

Just as these thoughts hit her the door opens revealing Mirage

"Your calling card?" Mirage tossed the card she had used to swipe in onto the desk

"Indeed, take a seat"

Mirage did so gaining some height and standing on the chair "So, what's going on?"  
"They want me at U Goom. That's where you are studying, so it's a bit odd isn't it"

"Could it be they suspect something is going on there? And want the both of us there so we can speak to each other much more easily"

"It could very well be. I'm not quite sure what else to make of it. The Leincart Intelligence Group tells us they will provide us with further intel at a later time, and in the meantime they want us to…"

"Just observe, standard LIG policy" Mirage finished the predictable sentence

"Like you needed telling, anyway that is all"

Mirage jumped off the chair and left, caught up with her friends and continued her day as if nothing had ever happened.

Rogueport inn

Torque sits alone on his table, Blooey and Jerry were 10 minutes late, but punctuality was not their strong suit, but just then Torque hears the door open, seemingly it was Blooey based on his struggle to push the door and when he opened the door Jerry followed in.

Blooey let go of the door a little exhausted "Whew, sorry we are late Torque"

"I'm not surprised, you live to be late" Torque countered

"Hey lay off, it's not like we both have fancy gizmos on our back to open doors and get about. Anyway it was your idea to meet up in this hole of a town, so why have you dragged us here" Jerry called to Podley to make an order "Hey can I have three sodas, for my friends" Jerry went over to the counter and paid up and went back to sit down with the others.

Torque continued totalk "You know Hayzee is teaching at U Goom right? He's working with Madame Flurrie on drama and acting"

Blooey and Jerry both looked at each other puzzled "U what and who's Madame Flurrie?"

"Honestly don't you two know anything? U Goom is the place Goombella went to, you know the Goomba girl who's travelled with Luigi's brother Mario? Madame Flurrie also travelled with Mario"

"Ohhhhh right! That U goom and THAT Flurrie. So Hayzee is teaching there?" Blooey answered as if all became clear but Torque knew better but choose to ignore the easy opportunity at a sarcastic reply

"Yes. Anyway I have already signed up as I want to get some official measures in programming, science and all that. Since you have a fair bit of coins now because of the rewards from the Waffle Kingdom, I wondered if you wanted to put that to decent use at U Goom, the fees are rather low this year simply because they need numbers"

"Yeah, I read about that in the newspaper but then I got sidetracked with the headline 'Luigi caught wearing Peach's dress'. After seeing the images I exploded and set the paper on fire" Jerry shuddered at the thought of watching those pictures again as the soda was brought to him and his friends, with a special straw for bom-ombs and bloopers.

"Oh get over it. It was for a good cause" Blooey argued, he didn't like how Jerry continually attacked Luigi on that issue

"Is this about the Beanbean Kingdom incident, where Luigi and Peach did a quick swap" this time Torque was given the stupid look treatment by the other two.

"NO! Get your nose out of a book for once and catch up on recent events. That was ages ago. It was a Princess Peach clone event for charity, for orphans I think" Blooey explained

"Yeah but did Luigi have to be SO good at it, it's kinda freaky to me. Anyway Torque in answering your U Goom question, I'll think about it and work out my coins but I should be going… I think I'll do psychology, I know it's a harsh subject, but I really want to find out what possesses Luigi to do what he does"

"Okay thanks… Blooey?"

"Yeah I guess… I've always wanted to do some chemistry or medicine. I know I'm famous because of my skin but… you know I kinda wanted to see if I could get a cure to get it back to normal... I mean Luigi has done a lot for us, but that's one thing I wish he didn't do, it's really makes me think twice when somebody says 'trust me'"

"I hear you Blooey, I propose a toast. To ignoring strange people when they say 'Trust me'" Torque raising his glass switching the tool on his back to a crane and clinking the other two stationary glass only held by the faces of Blooey and Jerry.

Pleasant path

The Koopa brothers all poke through a clump of glass while Ralph the red Koopa and self proclaimed leader looks through binoculars. He is looking at the Koopa Village trying to make something out.

The yellow one stood up to stretch for a moment, nobody was even around to hide from "Say Red, why do you always get to look at what's going on?"

"Because Yang, I'm the leader and therefore have to make the decisions, which means I have to see everything"

"Why are you the leader?" Ben the black brother countered

"It is a proven statistic that red Koopa's are smarter then any other type, so that natural that I'm our leader"

Greg the green brother sighed "You dyed your shell, you are just a green Koopa, and green Koopas are the dumbest ones according to that thing you read"

Yang and Ben both snickered, Greg of course made an idiot of Ralph, but nobody pointed out that Greg too was a green Koopa.

"Shut up, shut up, Kooper is coming, he's been talking with Kolorado for at least 15 minutes now" Ralph and the others ducked into the grass

Kooper had an preoccupied look on his face he was muttering something they couldn't hear until he came closer "No, I don't mind having a party but… why doesn't Frankly and the other U goom staff get some more hired help"

Each brother gave the other puzzled glances

"It's not really my call but I'll be there in about 5 hours I gue…"

The rest of what Kooper said again could not be heard, he was walking at a face pace

"Is it just me or has Kooper gone nuts? He's talking to himself"

Yang slapped Ben over the head "He was talking on a phone, clearly some big gig is going on at this U Goom"

"U Goom is a university so?" Greg stated stupidly

This time Ralph slapped Greg over the head

"OW! What IS your PROBLEM!" Greg shouted atRalph almost in his face

"YOUR stupidity!" Ralph shouted back

"HEY! You're the one who's denying the green shell thing!"

Yang sighed getting in between them "Both of YOU, SHUT it! We know Kooper's been running around like crazy lately, now we know it is probably something about a party… so it would be rude of us not to crash it"

Ralph nodded in approval "I like that idea, let's follow Kooper, he's got his mind on other things so it should be pretty easy to track him"  
"Track him? How amateur is that! He already told us where he was going!"

Ralph realised that Ben was right "Alright let's go, to Toad town, somebody has to know about U goom" He stood up and headed into town and Yang and Greg followed him

Ben stood up and properly placed the black bandana on his head and brushed the grass off himself and shouted as he went after the other three "Hey guys wait up"

Will the Koopa brothers actually achieve something? What is Kooper really doing after his recruitment work? With more characters joining in on the lunacy who knows what's going to happen at the end of it all.

Author notes, oh yes there are a few.

A/N1: Destroy the Mushroom kingdom was a half joke put in the forums, we just don't want Petey to get his own game before Bowser does. Even my Petey loving friend (who owns Patey) believes that is going too far.

A/N2: TAKE YOUR BASE! Piantayan of course is referring to the line used in Mario: Superstar baseball, so funny, you can even hit Baby Mario or Baby Luigi with the ball! I usually randomly shout out CRIPPLE as I'm about hit someone on the head

A/N3: In Japan, Birdo is known as Catherine but she has never been given a race name. It's not the first time (Yoshi/Toad) so anybody of Catherine's species will be referred to as a Birdo. It's clear that Catherine/Birdo is not the only one of her kind because several appear in Mario Tennis.

A/N4: The names for the Koopa bros. are NOT official, they are Yoshizilla's creation, but consistency between authors seems cool. Ralph: Red, Yellow: Yang, Green: Greg, Black: Ben. According to Goombario Black is fashionable but aside that not much else is known about them…

A/N5: Red Koopas ARE more intelligent, this is a true fact, yellow and blue are the second most intelligent and green are the dumbest, black and purple are both unnatural colours and any Koopa with this colour has dyed their shell (they did not exist prior to Paper Mario). I'm pretty sure of this, I know for a fact King K's team mates dyed their shells to match their leader, and some Koopas are pretty serious about looking cool, so I imagine changing their shell colour is just another thing they do.

Anyway the red Koopa will not ever walk off the edge and will turn around and sometimes even head in the direction that Mario is in. The blue one can defend itself out of its shell, and the yellow one knows how to be invincible when it wants to. The green one however will happily walk off an edge without a second thought and cannot defend itself at all outside its shell. Like most stats though they are only a rough guide and just because somebody is part of a stupid average doesn't mean they are stupid, so don't worry Koops fans, I will do him justice.

A/N6: Originally the first part of chapter 2 was covering Kooper's recruitment but it dragged a lot and got bogged down and I just didn't like it especially when I'd stated the previous chapter that Kooper had finished his recruitment. Then I had an idea when introducing the Kooper brothers. The next chapter will cover Kooper's end of things.


	3. Goomville: Light up my life

/N: Goombella and Frankly almost never talk about U Goom, well it's not critical to PMTTYD anyway but I'm going to have make up what it's like as well as the surrounding area which may not be in the Mushroom Kingdom. I've given the city/town the most cough creative cough name of Goomville. The characters might get up to a fair bit in Goomville outside U Goom hours.

While on the subject it's pretty silly how much land that single Kingdom covers. It's all headed by a Princess who will never become Queen and there is only one appearance of a minister (not Toadsworth) and the Mushroom Kingdom's politics are never mentioned, surely Mario should have to save some hapless Toad politicians at least once, or was this something Luigi did and nobody cared.

Anyway this isn't about the politics of the Mushroom Kingdom (not yet anyway) it's about U Goom. The only clue to its whereabouts is that Goombella said that she grew up in a warm place, doesn't really mean that U Goom is in the same location but it's a likely possibility that it is near by.

More story.

U Goom – Function Hall 6pm

Goombella and King K walked into the Function Hall. It was a huge room, with a stage and several tables stacked up a corner. K was in trance looking at it thinking he could fit the Glitz Pit in here easily however Goombella brought him back to his senses.

"I didn't ask you to do this. You should have got settled, got to know the area"

King K shrugged "Naw I'm good, unlike AJ, he takes a bit to get used to change… he and Andy are going round the city now"

She noddedwhile looking around the room making calculations. Although K was not telling the entire truth. In reality, he somewhat liked Goombella, she was attractive, intelligent, easy going, pleasant, and usually wasn't afraid to speak her mind, he realised there was a bit of a silence and spoke to keep up conversation "Uh anyway, you got a plan of how we are going to set this up?"

"Sort of, the Professor and I worked something out. I've got a bit of help on the way, Koops, Waffles and Vivian said they'd be here and Kooper is bringing some of his friends"

"Oh"

"We can get a start but I don't think we'll get far, but it's not like a big problem anyway"

"Stupid question, but… why doesn't U Goom hire some people do this kinda stuff, know what I'm sayin'?"

"Yeah, but you know how I told you attendance was a problem, I'm pretty sure staffing is too. Keep this one between you and me but I think U Goom's funding got cut back, which obviously means one of two things"

K was confused, Goombella spoke as if he was in the know of all this and he would be stupid if he did not know, he just nodded but Goombella saw through it like glass and raised a slight smile "Sorry, you probably didn't understand a word of my last sentence did you?"

"Uh, not really… so what does it all mean?"

"It means either U Goom is not performing well as the higher ups would like, or for some reason they want to close down U Goom or both. Of course it's all speculation, and I will never get it out of Professor Frankly. To get back to the point, it's not like this work is totally unpaid, there is a party for the staff at the start of the year and we'll be invited for helping out, but don't tell anyone"

Goomville – 7.30pm

Goomville, a bustling metropolis that was like a city that never slept, by day a city of the working class and the standard hustle and bustle that large cities are known for, and by night an active town, with fast food joints, bars, arcades, shopping centres with ridiculous hours and more.

"Wooooooowwwww" AJ stared mindlessly into the arcade as the music from the Zoness multiplayer level in Star Fox Assault boomed throughout the arcade

Andy slapped him lightly across the face to get his attention "Hey what's the matter with you, you act like you've never seen an arcade before"

"Well… I haven't, not one like this. There aren't many huge cities in Leincart, and I haven't been to any in ages, come on! Lets go!"

"If I must" Andy shrugged half heartedly as the pair went inside

Ralph and the other 3 Koopa brothers looked for a railing above the entry floor watching anyone that entered, there were games on this floor so nobody was really paying attention to them.

"I thought we were looking for Kooper at U Goom? For this party" Greg looked over to Ralph

Yang shook his head "We should have tried to follow, Kooper might have changed his plans anyway"

"And how pathetic would that be, following him all the way here, its like we have nothing better to do"

"But Red we don't"

Ben's comment got him a hit over the head from Ralph "Shut up, I don't need to be reminded of that. Now I wonder where you trade in your coins for those game tokens"

The rest of the group sighed, Ralph did not truly think Kooper was here, he just wanted to play the games here.

"Wow, score…" Greg called out

Ben turned to him puzzled "What? Oh yeah… right there"

Ralph looked to where Ben was pointing and he spotted a familiar blue shell "See I told you! Change of plan, since Kooper's come right in front of us it would be much easier to group attack him now, so we don't need to crash some dumb party"

Yang looked away in irritation "This is a stupid idea, it'll be impossible to make a good impact without attracting too much attention"

"So we'll do it real quietly"

"You go do it yourselves, I've got better things to do" Yang headed down the stairs away from the brothers

"Coward!" Greg called out after him but the yellow Koopa merely turned around and replied with a rude gesture surprising the other three

"What's up with him?" Ben scratched his head

Ralph shrugged it off "Who cares, lets get after Kooper before we lose him"

The 3 Koopas headed down to the lower floor and followed Kooper. However it was crowded and it was hard to keep track of him and the flashing lights that changed colour and stayed the same one seemed make Kooper's shell change colour in the light, but they progressively drew closer.

"On the count of three… we tackle the bastard" Ralph whispered "One… two…"

Ralph never said three but all dived on when the three would have been called in perfect synchronisation.

"I told you to watch your back Kooper! NOW we get revenge!" Ralph covered the mouth of his target so all everyone could hear was a muffled voice

"What the hell are you guys doing?" Bandy Andy protested trying to get the Brothers off but he was outnumbered

"None of your business, and if you don't want to get hurt stay out of the Koopa Brothers way" Ralph tried to act very intimidating but the bandit seemed less then impressed

Ben realised something was wrong "Uh Red, a problem"

"What is it?" Ralph continued to apply pressure to a weak point

Two dinosaurs came and stared at the brothers, the one of the left had a purple skinned dinosaur with a turtle like back and his tail extended was at least half the length of his body, while the dino on the right has blue coloured skin and was far bigger then anyone else and had a long neck and looked down on the scene in an intimidating fashion.

Greg and Ben seemed to lose their courage and when Ralph realised this he spoke up

"What's your problem then?" Ralph looked at the dinosaurs in the eye "This is just a little matter between me and Kooper, none of your damn business"

"Kooper? Are you blind or something, if you actually looked you'd realise that's not Kooper" The purple dino looked at their victim and knew it was certainly not Kooper.

"How would you know that!" Ralph protested "I bet you've never met the guy and are just one of Kooper's friends in an attempt to throw me off"

"That doesn't even make sense! If I'm one of his friends how could I have never met him?"

By now the security had come by in the forum of two Clubbas "What's the big deal here?"

Ralph now knew he was in trouble, these guys looked serious and looked tough, and now Ralph had worked out that he had made a mistake, this Koopa had a light red shell as the lights returned to normal, on realising his error he allowed the Koopa to stand up.

"Uh nothing, just a case of mistaken identity, somebody stole something from me, that's all, it's rather important" Ralph looked for his partners but Greg and Ben had long since bolted

"Well in future you report it to us and don't take the law into your own hands. Consider this a warning"

Ralph nodded and then rather embarrassed by the incident walked away.

"Hey you alright AJ" the bandit gave had hand to AJ to help him stand up

"I think so… thanks Andy, but you guys had sweet timing to delay those guys"

The purple dinosaur nodded "It's alright, just happened to know what Kooper looks like. Speaking of which look who finally shows up"

"Sorry about that, those guys are sort of desperate to settle a score with me. I can't believe they'd be stupid enough to try in a public place though. I'm Kooper as you're probably painfully aware by now" Kooper extended his hand and shook AJ's.

"Yeah… its okay, they didn't break anything so it's all good. That would be an uncool way to start the semester"

"Ah so you're going to U goom I gather, I'm going there. Or is there somewhere else that I don't know about in this crazy town?"

Andy nodded "We both going to U Goom. That is AJ and I"

"That makes five of us" the purple dino added

Kooper turned to the dino "You're an Ankylosaurus right? You wouldn't be Peppy now would you?"

"That's my brother, I'm Heppy and this big guy is Bronto"

Bronto gave a chuckle "Heppy, we should really catch up with Shelia though, she's been addicted to that stupid Princess Peach fashion game ever since we got here"

"You've got a point, it's getting a bit late and I still want to check out the fairgrounds. Anyway I'll catch up with you guys later at U Goom, see ya" Heppy and Bronto left the area causing most to look at them and stare at Bronto's sheer size but neither seemed to care.

Kooper looked at the watch on his wrist "Yeah come to think of it I gotta go too guys, but I'll see you both again sometime"

Kooper walked off at a hurried pace again and headed to U Goom. He was running really late now, but no big deal he had organised a fair bit of what was going on and Goombella was there and she surely would have made smooth progress by now however when he got there he did not expect it to be all set up.

Goombario, Lakilester seemed proud with the work they did. There were others in the group Kooper was not familiar with.

"Yo, you're a bit late there Kooper" Lakilester teased giving him a playful punch on the shoulder

"Sorry I got delayed in Goomville, just an incident involving the Koopa brothers"

"I cannot believe this. Those Koopa Brothers are still harassing you?" Goombario rolled his eyes

Kooper sighed heavily "It would appear so. You guys all finished up? That was quick"

Goombario took a water bottle Lakilester passed to him and with a trained foot held the bottle with his foot and took a quick drink before replying "Yeah Goombella and her group got a good start and then it didn't take much longer, but what is this room used for anyway?"

"It's a function hall, mainly used for performances, presentations, parties and all that kind of stuff" Goombella explained it as if she were tattling but stopped herself from subconsciously telling a random feature about the room.

"I'm a little tired now, so I'm off for some sleep" Lakilester stretched his arms as his cloud gave a yawn

Koops nodded at that proposal "I could fall down right here, I am so tried"

Everybody slowly filed out the exit and headed back to the main city of Goomville. For tonight, mostly would check into a hotel and check out their 'new home' tomorrow.

Goomville hotel – 9.30 am

Koops rubbed his tired eyes still feeling the muscle strain from all the lifting and shifting he did last night but to save money he, Vivian and Waffles all shared a hotel room, on Waffles' condition that Koops and Vivian didn't do anything disgusting like kissing in front of him. Goombella had her own place not far from U Goom but the first thing Koops noticed was that he had received a message on his Mailbox SP.

Hey Koops,

Come down to U goom's basketball courts at 2 pm. Professor Frankly wants to see us at 3 anyway.

Goombella

'Basketball?' Koops thought, he was never any good at sports but that said Goombas couldn't play basketball either so there had to be another reason.

"Hey sleepy, get Goombella's message?" Vivian walked into the bedroom from out of the bathroom, it seemed as if she had just had a shower

"Yeah… where's Waffles?"

"He's long gone, probably to look at his accommodation, but he got the message too. Anyway we should get a move on too"

Koops nodded and headed off to the bathroom to shower as well. After about 30 minutes when Koops changed and he and Vivian had breakfast they set out to the address of where their accommodation was.

The street it was on was rather peaceful despite being only about a 10 minute walk from the main city, but most of the buildings here were usually two or three stories high. It was uncommon for so many two story buildings to be put together, in the Mushroom Kingdom anyway. Koops was at 5/16 while Vivian was at 6/16 and judging by the way these buildings were, Koops suspected they'd be living close together.

"10… 12…" Vivian counted the numbers down "14 and ah 16… this is it"

Koops saw a three story building not too unlikethe others. It was painted with a rather nice white colour with modern looking windows.

"Took your sweet time getting here, but it's a pretty nice, check it out" Waffles led the Koopa and Shadow into the apartment block and after going up one flight of stairs Waffles came to number 7.

It was a simple 4 room place, it had a kitchen, lounge room, bathroom and bedroom and even had a fair few bits of furniture, there was a freshly cleaned smell about it and with one bedroom it was supposed to be only for one person but it could accommodate more if required.

Koops was a little in shock, he wasn't expecting something better then his own house "There's something I wonder about, how can U goom afford this? It would cost a bundle being so close to the city"

"Yeah but remember that this place is only free for the first two months, after that you've got start paying up for it which is how they make their money, some people get together and I bet you'll probably be doing that even before the two months are up" Waffles seemed somewhat disgusted "If I ever hear strange noises from over there…"  
"WAFFLES!" Koops and Vivian both shouted out the same time stopping him going any further with that sentence

Waffles shook his head and changed the subject "I want to watch my new DVD 'Prince Mush' the ultimate beatdowns. I'd really like to see what made that guy as strong as he was, and why he was… or rather is so popular, he doesn't seem much of a crowd builder to me"

Koops and Vivian took that as a hint to go away so took the hint and left the Yoshi alone.

U Goom – Basketball courts

It seemed Goombella had gathered not only Waffles, Vivian and Koops, but King K, AJ, Andy, Hamma, Bamma and Flare too.

Waffles folded his arms in disapproval "Hey since when did Hamma, Bamma and Flare get into U Goom"

"Since we heard about the awesome sports program you guys run" Jamma then paused and thought of another reason "That and it'll get my Dad off my back about going to business brothers school"

"Besides, what have you got against us anyway?" Flare asked frowning

"Don't tell me you are still bitter about losing to them" Andy laughed as he saw the Yoshi go red in embarrassment

Waffles approached Andy and shouted in his face "That was ONLY because Jolene had to put a stupid condition. She didn't want me eating my opponents and spitting them out because the kids were trying to do the same and she didn't want bad press, so I DID NOT LOSE! GOT THAT!"

"ANYWAY!" Goombella shouted back to get everyone's attention "I've gathered you guys here because at U goom there's a sport we play here called Socketball, sounds totally stupid I know but the name catches on, it can be called SKball for short"

Bamma grinned "Wish we could plug Gonzales Junior into a socket right now, he'd be energy efficient"

"Nah, he'd probably blow a fuse" Hamma and Bamma both laughed

"Come on guys… cut it out" Flare noticed Waffles was ready to deliver 'Operation: Bulldozer' at any given moment

Goombella sighed and continued "Anyway it's a combination of soccer and basketball. Those without hands try to kick the ball and use their bodies to place the ball into net of the opposing team. Those with hands however try to bounce the ball like you would in basketball and shoot it into hoop at the opposing teams end, if you have hands you can't touch it with your head or your feet. I've gathered you guys here because I want you to be on my team"

"Your team? So your sayin' there's somekinda tournament goin' down?"

"Yes, U Goom form teams and you submit them and then we play each other. It is always played on a 60 meter by 60 meter square, but these are the basketball courts as the socketball courts don't open until the start of the year, I just wanted to see who was interested. That and Goombario and Kooper are sure to form a team with the others that travelled with them too. So there's bound to be contests of which of Mario's partners are better"

"I've never been much good at sports Goombella" Koops admittedly shyly

"I'll be honest Koops, the level of play isn't that high, last year the competition was an outright farce. I've never played myself either, so it's going to be a learning experience for all of us. There are other rules but I'm just looking for interest at this stage"

"Those other partners of Mario are complete wimps. So they stopped Bowser using some silly magic wand from ruling the world, big deal. Bowser's too dumb to know how to use it anyway" Waffles said full of his usual ego "In addition to that, we took on Bowser AND Kammy at the same time, we also had to deal with Grodus before that and the Shadow Queen after that. And we've got some decent fighters on our team, those guys don't stand a chance, sign me up"

Bamma shook his head "Full of trash talk as usual huh, but I guess it seems like fun"

"Yeah I'm in, be nice to break up the study thing with this" Andy shrugged

With Andy's comment nobody seemed to object and Goombella had formed her team.

Next chapter I'm going to cover some of the teachers as we've done quite enough of the students then I'm going to warp right into the classes. Sorry if this chapter seemed a little dull, I had problems writing a few parts with this and changed it several times. Also I wanted to build up a few more relationships, some negative and some positive to create more of a realistic atmosphere rather then everyone just sticking within the characters they already know.

A/N1: The houses in Paper Mario are really stupid, I wanted to change that and give the wonderful characters something to actually live in aside from a one room place. Flurrie gets two rooms but there is no toilet or kitchen, honestly. Perhaps this is why Glitzville is so popular, it is one of the few places in the Mushroom Kingdom with a toilet!

A/N2: Socketball, entirely a creation of my own although surely somebody else has thought of it, but based on the fact that a few species in the Marioverse are lacking arms I figured it would be best to make a sport that any species could enter so you could have these dream match style face offs. Even Fuzzies could probably play this if they really wanted to and those poor things are the most deprived, no arms no legs, just a whole lot of sugar.

A/N3: I almost forgot! In fact I did forget... twice. Mew Spice1 owns Mirage, Duplica and Birdy, Yoshizilla owns Heppy, Bronto and Shelia. I own Koopfina, Aliciagoom, AJ, Parakenny, Gerato, Patey and Piantayan although Patey and Piantayan are designed by others they let me have them. Nintendo owns everything else I think, but I'm sure I have made a mistake somewhere.


	4. Life's little challenges

Sorry this has taken so long, it's been a bit difficult. But anyways, the lessons kick off next chapter, by then I think almost every character (for now) will have been seen and heard. I'm a plotline freak and I'm trying to develop a reasonable story for a lot of the characters, without keeping it in the one spot forever.

Function Hall 8pm

The tables that had been set up last night were now mostly filled with teachers, except one table that featured Goombella, Goombario, Kooper, Koops, Lakilester, Waffles and Vivian.

A voice over a microphone on the stage caught the attention of everyone in the room "And presenting the new head for this year, Professor Calma T."

The other teachers clapped as the blue spotted Toad woman appeared, she seemed very business like, instantly reminding Goombella of Jolene who was also in the room sitting with Flurrie and Hayzee, although at the same time she looked more approachable then Jolene was.

Calma T. took to the top of the platform on the stage and lowered the microphone to her level, placing cards that probably had notes on them on a small rack "Thank you. I am honoured to have been given this job at such a wonderful establishment such as U Goom, the records speak for themselves and lately enrolments seem to have skyrocketed despite a slow start"

The crowd applauds once again but Calma T. quickly continues onwards "There are several new faces aside from myself this year, although unfortunately not everybody could make it but let's introduce everybody, old and new"

She expertly flicked a card from the board in front of her without breaking stride "First up is Professor Frankly. Yes, he's returning once more after many countless years of work teaching archaeology but this year he is also taking on a totally different area of Sociology. In fact Professor Frankly has been here for so long one of his former students is even teaching as well. Usually out and about and going from one exotic location to another, the famous archaeologist Kolorado will be teaching the art of adventure class as well as sometimes taking over from Professor Frankly's archaeology class"

Kooper had doubts of this even when Professor Frankly first told him. Kolorado couldn't keep himself in one spot for two seconds unless there was some potential of treasure to be found, but Frankly assured him that he will keep Kolorado interested.

"And now for those of us with a sweet tooth we have two cooking classes this year but our two teachers will be swapping themselves between the two classes in order to give the students a wider range of knowledge. Introducing Zess T. and Tayce T."

The two cooks were sitting together, being sisters with their brother or better known as the Master sitting in between them. Tayce T. gave a polite wave and smile to the clapping audience while Zess T. just waved her hand side to side lazily.

"Ah the Drama students are in for a real treat this year, the most famous actress Madame Flurrie and the equally talented director Hayzee will both be teaching the classes this year" Once again the usual clap and introduction phase took place.

Calma T. then flicked another card "Public relations and retail operations class… taught by former Glitz Pit promoter Jolene, I am sure she will be an absolutely perfect fit into the position and thank you for coming on such short notice"

Jolene nodded her head curtly as the crowd clapped once more as Calma T. flicked a few more cards. Finally her speech moved on to the lesser known teachers but still gave them the introduction they deserved while not keeping it too long and exaggerated.

"Thank you for welcoming each of these new teachers. As for those who could not make it today I'm sure they will make themselves known over time. I certainly hope we can all work together to bring U goom to new heights. For now though, dinner has been prepared and will be brought out shortly"

The Toad woman then let the crowd clap a little more and then walked off the stage.

Waffles stretched himself out "Man that took forever…but hey where's that yellow Koopa dude, he was here last night wasn't he?"

"Yeah but he's not here now, King K had other arrangements, or so he said" Goombella though believed K just lied to get out of it, she understood though, there were two groups on this table and he didn't really fit into either of them.

"Fair enough, more for me" Waffles said casually

"That's really odd" Frankly muttered out loud

"What's really odd Professor?" Goombella asked curiously

"Oh nothing, just unusual so many of the teachers weren't present"

Once again Goombella sensed Frankly wasn't telling her the truth, whether it was not for everyone's ears, or something that he wouldn't tell anybody she may never find out. Either that or she was just being really paranoid, she'd like to believe that but with all that was going on she had to lean to the conspiracy side of things. Now that was dumb… she was beginning to sound like Bandy Andy. Next she'll have the 7 wonders of U Goom, and with that thought she'd already come up with the first one, the suicide doors on the 10th level of the History tower.

Waffles cried out happily as the food came "Yeah! Free food" Waffles then used his tongue to grab a burger on the tray that was coming in their direction but as he caught the burger with his tongue and tried to bring it back to him he lost control of his tongue as Vivian lit a fire underneath his seat to teach him better manners.

Waffles stood up alarmed trying to get the flames off his tail as everyone on that table laughed at the incident. When Waffles got the flames off he stood up on his chair giving Vivian an intimidating look "What's the big idea shadow girl? Think you can take me with such a cheap shot"

Vivian smiled as the burger landed conveniently on the plate in front of her ignoring the comment "I really don't want this, you've slobbered all over it already. This time use your hands…" Vivian handed the plate to Waffles who muttered something unintelligible and he snatched the plate ungratefully from her.

Koops was pleased to see Waffles was taking as much as he dishes out, especially from Vivian who needs all the confidence she can get. While it was probably at the expense of Waffles he had too much self confidence anyway and could do with a deflation of his ego. Although things certainly looked like they were going to be hectic this year, while this did not surprise Koops it was still a bit daunting for him.

Goomville

In the big city there were many different buildings, it would be hard for any single one to stand out more then the other, with one exception. This building looked as if it had been taken out of a book in the medieval times, even the sign that read 'Forge's workshop' fitted the look.

"What the hell is this ancient place" Gerato muttered. Unable to shake the annoying Piantayan off him and realising he become more annoying the harder he tried he just gave up... again.

"Looks like some kind of weapons factory, I like the old look about it actually"

"Figures, you seem to like everything"

"Gotta love life man, it's the only thing we have"

The two Piantas went inside, a young Toad woman seemed to be working very hard and focused solely on the work in front of her. In contrast to the dull colours of the building her hair was bright pink and in a braid, the black spots on her head further conflicted with her look. Piantayan waited for the wise crack that was bound to come from Gerato's mouth, which one would he use?

"Isn't that a man's job?" Gerato said arrogantly

"You think you can do better?" The woman replied without looking up

"Hmmph and honestly is Forge your actual name?"

"Don't mind him, he's just a little under the weather" Piantayan said lightly

"Whatever. As you can clearly see I'm very busy. However you are very welcome to look around" Forge spoke in a tone that suggested that she did not have time for stupid antics.

Piantayan noticed the hammer in a display case "Hey, I've seen this before, isn't this hammer like the top of the range stuff, or near top of the range" Piantayan then read the metal inscription "Used by the Great Gonzales, ooo cool"

"Don't mind him, he just doesn't know when to shut UP!" Gerato countered

Piantayan sensed the tension in the air had hit boiling point so made his exit "Alright we still gotta a lot to check out. Thanks"

Forge gave a silent sigh of relief as the two Piantas left, she just had no patience for stupidity and silly antics. She tried to get back to work again but her flow had been thrown off, not that there ever really was one to start with, she should have gone to that party for the teachers after all as she wasn't progressing here, she didn't even really need to work as hard as she did, it was just personal satisfaction. Deciding to call it a night, she started to close up shop so she could look at the basic guidelines for when she started teaching the Ancient History class.

5am next day - Woodmark park (Amusement park)

Mirage once again found herself talking to Koopfina after receiving a message about an hour ago. At least this time neither Duplica or Birdy would be around for her to need to create a diversion. Usually though if she was up this early it wasn't to see her handler, it was to go find something valuable and claim it as her own.

"The water view is really something here isn't it" Koopfina stared over the water as she heard Mirage's footsteps

"If you dragged me out here to talk about a puddle this may get violent"

Koopfina gave a light smile coming straight to the point "There is a complication in the assignment"

"And?"

"Two Koopas I know are studying here. They know me pretty well, so we will need to be more careful"

"So? I have friends here too, I have to work around it all the time"

"Yes but this is a bit different, as we've known each other for many years. I raised one of them"

"Ah your old foster care job, I read about that, so now one of the grown up ones is back in your life again. Can I know what they look like or who they are for my own knowledge?"

Koopfina nodded taking out their U Goom file and handing it to Mirage

"Oh naughty, naughty, your not supposed to take those off the premises" Mirage lectured jokingly as she flicked through

"I commandeered it" Koopfina replied sternly

"Haha" Mirage said dully "So Michael and Koopalajan? That's a long winded name"

"You won't find them being called that around U Goom though. Most people refer to Michael as King K and nobody refers to AJ by his actual name, almost nobody knows of it"

The Squeek nodded to this as she finished her skim read and gave the files back "For good reason I imagine. You find any useful intel while at the party or while you somehow 'commandeered' those files?"

The Koopa nodded slowly "Yes. There's a new dean this year, seems like a good fit for the job. I've found someone who can help me get my feet on the political situation in U Goom, where friendships stand, who's in and all of that"

"So far so good then?"

"Yes, so far so good. Well that was it really, I will tell Michael and AJ about what I'm teaching this year and have a basic social catch up"

"Alright, I will see you whenever" Mirage then left Koopfina to stare over the water view as the park began to open and play the usual carnival music. While it was an interesting development, it wasn't something she needed to know right there and then, it was kind of weird, it's not like Koopfina to get paranoid or worried about something so trivial.

Bow's mansion

Bow, Watt and Bombette were all in a circle, Bow as the only of the three that had hands held a basic bottle in her hand and spun it around on the creaky floor, although as Bombette was the only one with legs this wasn't too much of an issue. The bottle spun around several times before ending up pointing to Bombette.

"Ooooooh…" Bow and Watt chorused at the same time

"Yeah yeah just get on with it…"

Bow grinned, asking the most cliché question in truth or dare "Okay, who do you have a crush on?"

"Dare"   
Suddenly bits and pieces of the door to the room flew everywhere as an explosion occurred outside the room.

"Huh? What was that?" Watt looked around puzzled

"I think I know, HOW hard is it for me to lose that guy" Bombette seemed disgusted

"It's an impossibility my love for we are just meant for each other" Bruce recovered from his own explosion and immediately ran up to Bombette "So where have you been lately, I used to see you all the time at the Koopa Village"

"Yeah I know, that's why I don't hang out around there anymore"

"Ah well, that's okay because I'll see you all the time at U Goom then. I'm attending this year too" Bruce grinned happily

Bombette promptly exploded in more ways then one creating a big hole in the ground. She fell through to the next floor down but everyone upstairs could still hear her shouting "YOU ARE WHAT!"

"Would you guys STOP wrecking my mansion" Bow screamed out "Seriously I'm taking law this year so I WILL SUE!"

"Don't you know that someone who represents themselves has a fool for a client" Bruce suddenly went serious as he was not talking to Bombette

"YOU shut up! This is all your fault!"

There was a tense silence while Watt was trying to avoid being shouted at by Bow or being the cause of another explosion "Um, how did you know Bombette was attending U goom?"

"Because I'm observant baby, class lists are available across the Internet now, so when I found out that Bombette was at U Goom as well" He then turned to Bombette who had come back up to Bow's room "You know I will go to the end of the world for you darling"

"Yeah, but if you did, would you stay there? Or better yet, could you just die for me?"

"Oh you are so cold sometimes, but that's what I love about you. I will win your heart just you wait and see. I had to go through the scary forest and the awful monsters, but for you I conquered my fears"

Bow sighed it was time to get rid of this annoying intruder "Okay, you've had enough fun Bruce. Boys escort this gentleman out… PRONTO!"

About 5 Boo's appeared and lifted Bruce into the air and out the door "I love you Bombette! SEE YOU SOON! AHHH!"

Bombette looked furious but didn't seem prone to another explosion "Why me! Why does he have to pick on me! Of all the girls out there and he targets me!"

Bow shook her head and sighed "I got the feeling he knew you were going to U Goom before he signed up. That guy is stalker"

"You don't suppose I could find a way I could sue him for sexual harassment, or stalking, or whatever it is he does that makes he outright annoying"

"Maybe you could just take out a restraining order" Watt suggested

"That's a good idea… but he'd ignore it anyway, GAHHHH!" Bombette cried out

Baseball diamond 11 am

Aliciagoom sat onto of the grass hills, things were already getting busier at U Goom, there were already a group on the field, she thought she saw Flare taking the bat, she wasn't sure as he was unusually without his helmet. While out loud she was a Rawk Hawk fan through and through, she had a little place for Flare as well, so under loved in her view because of his slightly stronger, less camera shy team leader Hamma Jamma.

Crack! The fire brother hit the pitch with perfect accuracy and power earning him a loud cheer as the ball flew away almost as if it was on fire which Aliciagoom reminded herself, it probably was. A Lakitu went to chase after the ball but it was pointless it was easily over the fence and a home run, he shrugged and gave up and waited for one of the other Piantas to come over who could actually boost themselves over the fence to get it. After what looked like a small argument the blue Pianta finally went and retrieved the ball.

Aliciagoom continued to watch dreamily as the fire bro was surrounded in a group huddle, and then she knew for sure as in the group was his two team mates, Jamma and Bamma. A rather big piranha plant took to the plate next as Flare and his other team mates took a seat on the bench, this time the red Pianta was a bit more successful in his pitching ability, but she wasn't watching the game anymore, she was watching Flare.

"Hey Alicia I got you those fries" a voice distracted her from her visions

She jumped quite a bit "HUH! Oh it's just you" Aliciagoom replied irritated

"Something wrong?" a female Crayzee Dayzee accompanied Parakenny sat down on her right as Parakenny slowly descended to the ground and sat down on Aliciagoom's left.

"No Kora, just thinking" Aliciagoom allowed the fries to be placed in front of her as she tried to pick one out without it spilling everywhere. Eating was always such a troublesome task for a Goomba. She turned to Kora as she held the fairy floss in her hand and watched enviously as she took an easy bite out of it, while Parakenny was stuffing one of his two hot dogs down his mouth, tomato sauce covered his mouth which he promptly licked with a look of satisfaction on his face.

Aliciagoom stared once more in Flare's general direction as she struggled another chip into her mouth, however the piranha plant who had been struck out had now blocked her view of Flare, how irritating. Life was like that sometimes, just when things are going smoothly something comes out of nowhere and blocks your progress, that made Aliciagoom think of her bitter rival Goombella.

Constantly Goombella out performed her, got the glory of Professor Frankly and got to go on a little expedition with him to Rogueport, a trip that was at first thought to be nothing more then a waste of time, but Mario just happened to show up and Goombella assists him to such an extent she becomes known as a hero.

If it was Aliciagoom who got those marks, Frankly would have chosen her instead, Aliciagoom thought Goombella cheated somewhere, but deep down she knew that while Goombella was lucky, to survive against a demon that could cause the destruction of the world meant that she had to have some sort of ability. The frustrating thing about the entire thing was she didn't know what Goombella had and she did not, was it determination, was it ability, or something entirely different? The fact that Aliciagoom came from a much richer life style made this all the more infuriating, being used to be able to buy anything she wants and if that fails, work hard towards it, however this time she was beaten… for now at least, there was always the future and that's what Aliciagoom depending on, would this year be any different? Maybe not, but she can't give in that easily.

A/N: Did Mario even have Medieval times? Ah well I will just make it up as I go along, sounds like fun yes?

A/N2: They have email in Paper Mario, so they must have the Internet too I guess. Yet if they have computers, have landed on the moon and have teleportation technology, why does Mario STILL have to walk everywhere? More ammo given to Bandy Andy's Princess Peach conspiracy number 2: Peach gets kidnapped so Mario gets exercise.

A/N3: The Master is really the brother of Zess T. and Tayce T. that's not just something I thought that would be cool for a laugh, it's a fact.

A/N4: The suicide doors actually exist in a University. More explained later…

A/N5: Forge belongs to Cyberweasel89 as do Buddy, Lead and Luna which will appear next chapter. Kora is my own creation as some of my readers would be aware. Bruce is just Bombette's annoying crush in case anyone doesn't know/forgot.


	5. Seeds of a new beginning

A/N: Hey guys, the chapters are going to start getting longer, if people like 'more chapters, less text' then let me know. Just remember that some classes run at the same time as other ones are going on, this way the classes all don't seem to be introductory otherwise it'll take forever to get anywhere, so if I don't cover a class that I said happened in a day it's because it's happening at the same time as another one, but I'll state when this is the case. This way I can make the fic seem a bit more real and smooth without going backwards and forwards through the passage of time using flashbacks if need be.

As may be already obvious, I like to give a few characters and those who surround them a bit of focus, it makes it easier for me to write and develop a story knowing that I've focused on a given character and become familiar with the current problems, joys, and pressure they face. Maybe even the possible relationships (positive and negative) they have with other characters.

In this case I focus mostly on Waffles but I give Vivian and a new comer to this series a bit of treatment too, but although I mention theatre, it won't happen in this chapter, so just no one gets excited about Flurrie making a fool of herself, oh did I say that out loud? Anyway there are also a ton of author notes at the end.

I also admit I'm probably not as well rounded as I really should be to be writing this story, but I'll implement Marioness to cover most of this.

Morning of the first day of the semester

The speed at which the first day of the semester arrived seemed to catch everyone out. On the first day there were not many classes that were going on. Vivian was one of the few who had two classes on the same day, cooking and theatre, however there was a good break in between them and with her new home being not so far away, or she could hang around in the city, it was her call, for the first time in a while she felt that on the most part she only had to answer to herself.

With Beldam, freedom of her tyranny was nothing but a very optimistic dream, when she became involved with Mario while it was a great improvement she was still not entirely in charge of what happened in her life, but that was partly because she wanted to seek the company of others and she was more then willing to travel around and fight at Mario's side.

Now however things had finally settled down, wherever Beldam ended up she would not be bothering her anymore and even if she did, Vivian would give her one chance to explain her presence before using her sister as target practice for the full potential of the fiery jinx. Her abilities had become progressively stronger since she sided with Mario and she continued to improve them even though there was no real need to but occasionally fun opportunities to 'test' her skill would appear, like setting the flames right underneath Waffles making him jump but without setting the chair on fire.

"You okay in there Vivian?" Koops called out, he was waiting in the lounge room while Vivian prepared herself for the day

"Yeah, I'm just in the middle of a few things" Vivian called back, she was partly in a day dream, but there was no rush to get there, she had allowed herself plenty of time.

That was the main thing that had improved for her, prior to meeting Koops… or rather Mario's group as a whole; love was something she had never even thought about. When Beldam found out she cowardly cornered her and made her displeasure obvious. The memories still fresh in her mind.

"_I mean, really, Vivian... A Koopa? How could you possibly be interested in such a worthless creature? If you're going to scam anyone, at least let it be someone with something of value..."_

On hearing how she continually put down Koops and his species like that, it hurt her, as well as Koops who was listening in at the time. Of course Beldam could not understand the value Koops had to Vivian but it would prove to be her undoing. Later on however she learned there was some irony in this. It was a Koopa who was the main physical force behind a group of four who put an end to the Shadow Queen the first time. Beldam seemed to have either forgotten that fact or more likely she was trying to downplay the possibility that the Koopa species, something so common were potentially stronger the shadow species despite all their magic.

If anything the Koopa was one of the better species to born into, there were so many possibilities of what one could grow up to be, Koopas could even become adept at magic. She wondered if Koops could ever perform magic, and she gave a big smile and tried not to laugh at the image of Koops wearing a Magikoopa robe while still having that bandage and facial expression that makes him stand out. She placed the last book in her bag and she stood up and floated out to the lounge room.

U Goom entrance

Time: 8.47 am

A male bub-ulb walks alone into the main entry at U goom, while his name was Buddy he seemingly came alone. It was rather daunting not only was he starting something entirely new it was in a place where everything was different to the quieter surroundings he had got used to. Goomville and the surrounding areas were quite the opposite. Now however he had a total mental blank to where he was supposed to go next, where did they the cooking class was?

"So where's the class, now I can't remember. Oh no… Mirage, I have to admit, I am a bit nervous" the voice of a girl, she sounded as timid as he was feeling. The bub-ulb turned to see an unusually orange sheeted Duplighost and a white Squeek walking together, obviously they were friends.

"You're hopeless sometimes Duplica, what's the worst that could happen? Do you think the teacher is going to poison everyone?"

Duplica then seemed horrified causing Mirage to roll her eyes but before she could come up with either something reassuring or another sarcastic line a crash was heard from behind them outside the gates.

They turned around and saw a red shelled Koopa had somehow collided into the steel fence outside and fallen to the ground, fortunately not on his shell so he wasn't completely humiliated. The three went over to him.

"Yo AJ, mental note, give more time for the braking zones. Ow… pain"

Buddy gasped in shock "Wow are you alright?"

AJ pushed himself back upright and stood up "Yeah I'll live, where'd the board go…"

"You mean this?" Mirage found the board he was referring to, it seemed to float without anything supporting it from the ground "Is this what I think it is? This is all the rage in the Mushroom Kingdom lately"

AJ accepted it back from Mirage "Yeah I finally got it a few days ago after winning it at an ice hockey game. The problem was that I was Leincartian, so Gadd hadn't released it there yet, but since I'm here now I was able to claim the prize. I am not the most active guy, so this is kinda new to me"

A few thoughts went through Buddy's head, what was Leincartian anyway, he was a Koopa wasn't he or at least he thought so? That didn't matter right now "Hey let me help you a bit" The bub-ulb then released a fragrance in the air, it seemed to calm Duplica's nerves while also healing AJ of the minor injury he did to his hands.

After the effect seemed to set in the Koopa nodded in approval "As much as I've about the bub-ulb species I've never actually seen one before, but I guess Leincart might be a bit too cold for a flower. Most people call me AJ, and you are?"

Now that made more sense, Leincart was merely a place he hadn't heard of "I'm Buddy, what does the AJ stand for?"

"Whatever you want" the Koopa replied in an automated fashion

Mirage gave a slight smile to this answer, he probably got asked all the time.

"I'm Duplica and this is my friend Mirage" Duplica seemed to be in much higher spirits, the nerves had seemingly left her

Mirage looked at the clock that was located on the Maitre Delish tower "Not to be rude, but Duplica and I may be late if we chat for much longer"

As they continued to go in the same direction, without words they realised they'd be sharing the same class.

As Buddy and the others got into the class he saw a yellow spotted Toad whose smile seemed warm and kind, just someone Buddy had hoped for, he heard rumours that the cooking teacher could be rather cold and very strict.

"Just take a seat next to Kora, so we keep everyone together hon" Tayce T. gestured in the general direction where the Crayzee Dayzee was sitting

"Oh right" Buddy quickly found his seat, so many strange things were around him. His classmates were unusual enough on the most part, a shadow girl, a duplighost and of course Kora next to him. The shadow girl he had never even seen or heard of them before, the duplighost Buddy thought only existed in fiction, and the Crayzee Dayzee weren't all that commonly seen in public. The only species that did not seem out place the Squeek and the three Koopas, but even they seemed different.

"So you get to know at least one of your class mates better, for your first task you'll be working in pairs"

Tayce T. split Koops and Vivian up knowing that they were 'very' familiar with one another, pairing Koops with Duplica and Vivian with Kora. Buddy found himself paired with the other Koopa who wasn't AJ, but on getting a better look Buddy realised that more technically this Koopa was more accurately a fire brother. That left Mirage and AJ together, Mirage wondered if Koopfina had a word with Tayce, but she doubted it, it was probably more of a coincidence.

"Hey I'm Flare, I'd shake hands but it's a bit difficult for you"

Buddy smiled "I get that a lot, especially from you Koopas. My name's Buddy"

"Cool, so a bub-ulb huh? I'm curious what could you do with cooking"

"I know where to get the best naturally grown stuff, I always wanted to see and enjoy the end results"

As the class socialised with each other Tayce T. allowed this to go on for about a minute before she went on with the lesson.

"We'll do something rather easy today. All I ask you is to prepare and cook basic Mushroom"

Some of the class looked a bit puzzled, expecting something more difficult

Tayce T. went around the class and handed out the Mushrooms "Now, don't you all give me that look as if this is too trivial to you, so many cooks wonder why their more complicated recipes do not turn out the way they'd like. I am willing to bet most of these cases are the incorrect cooking of the Mushroom ingredient when trying something more complicated and overlooking something as simple as this"

Tayce T. also had another reason for simplifying things, she knew a few had little experience in the field of cooking but this was better as far as she was concerned because in that case they hadn't picked up any bad habits.

Mirage was watching as AJ fished a knife out of the accessory draw and sliced the Mushroom as if he had done so hundreds times, making sure to take off any of the stem and the rough bits and then slicing it into smaller portions. She stopped staring for a moment as she switched on the heat of the frypan rechecking the number matched the one Tayce T. had written up on the whiteboard. After AJ had finished slicing he got a spatula and placed the pieces into the frypan.

Tayce T. watched over but didn't have anything to say and moved on and watched Flare and Buddy, Buddy was mainly instructed from the board as he was without hands, but there was a device from E. Gadd that handless students were able to use to write and participate in class just like everyone else. Today however they were still in repair from last year and would be coming back within the next few days.

"So far so good" she watched Flare carefully chop the Mushroom, while Buddy read off the next instruction

Koops meanwhile was having some problems, neither he or Duplica seemed to be that experienced in the art of cooking.

"Umm… you any good at this?" Koops shrugged shyly

"Well…" Duplica looked over the room "I got an idea"

She then transformed into Tayce T. and took the knife and prepared to chop

"Hey, isn't that sort of cheating?"

Tayce T. came over "Yes, it is. Duplica please, don't use your transformation abilities, it kind worries me when I look at myself like that. Also you'll never learn that way dear" Tayce T. smiled reassuringly, as an embarrassed Duplica transformed back into her usual self.

The class had a small laugh and before long the sizzling sounds were heard from around the room. Tayce was spending the most time with Vivian, Kora, Koops and Duplica who seemed to be the least experienced but Tayce T. had a sneaking suspicion this would be the case, whether it was from her experience that she could just tell or that she had asked around prior to the class was anyone's guess, either way it seemed to be working out well almost everybody seemed fairly happy with their progress, even doing something basic.

"Alright not long now" Tayce T. watched over the frypan "Keep a good hand on it Vivian, make sure it heats evenly, although you shouldn't have much of a problem from here, you've done well"

Vivian had watched Zess T. cook Mushrooms a fair few times before but never really considered until recently to watch her for lessons, she hoped that Zess wouldn't come back to her and ask her specific questions based on watching her before.

Mirage removed the frypan from the heat and AJ took the individual pieces out and placed them on a plate with a bit of salad to look a bit more complete. Tayce T. came over "Good enough, you eat it if you like"

"May I" Mirage asked taking the plate

"Go ahead"

AJ wondered why Tayce barely spoke to him and Mirage, maybe she's just waiting for everyone to finish so she can then pull apart every technical aspect of what he did. Maybe he had unknowingly picked up bad habits from learning it off from very little theory, mostly learning by word of mouth and experimentation. K seemed to think he was great at it, but K often said that about anything and getting a true opinion out of King K was very difficult.

However it didn't seem to be the case, as others finished, Tayce T. only offered very minor advice if any. Maybe Tayce T. too was like King K in the sense she refused to give her honest opinion, it's a good thing when you don't know somebody has that personality trait but when you do know it is questionable whether they are actually giving you a compliment or are just being polite and encouraging.

AJ then heard K's voice in his head 'You're overanalysin' again, just take things for what they are, know what I mean?' In that line he realised K's advice was often very simple and easy to understand, he's a guy in love with life and feels any negative opinions should only be conveyed in a positive fashion.

Tayce T. then snapped him out of his daydream "Well, I think we've made a decent start. All of you did fine, just following the instructions is an obvious way to do it, but of course everyone has their own personal taste in both cooking and eating. The key lesson here is to not lose the basic principal or else you may not get the results you seek. That'll be all"

Everyone progressively stood up and left the room, the time had gone rather quickly and while it was rather basic for some, it was quite encouraging for others.

"So how did you find it? I thought it was great" Buddy asked to the general crowd, which featured himself, Duplica, Flare, Mirage, AJ and Kora. Vivian and Koops had gone elsewhere.

"I really like Tayce T., she's so nice and doesn't make you feel silly for asking stupid questions" Duplica smiled still slightly embarrassed over transforming into Tayce T.

"Sorry to change the subject, but are those two like an item?" Kora watched Koops and Vivian go the other way

"Of course they are an item" Flare stated it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world "I knew Koops before he met Vivian, he's more confident then he used to be. That said, it takes a bit of guts to sign up at Glitzville, although I thought he said he was with Gonzales because of another girl, Kookie koop I think. To be become stronger for her, something like that"

AJ looked over to Flare "Did Andy tell you that, sounds like a story he'd start up. I've only known him a week and know only to believe part of what comes out of his mouth"

Flare nodded "That's true… might have been Andy who said something like that. Well whatever, Vivian's a lucky girl, as cowardly as Koops may have been, he's got a good heart"

The others seemed to be in agreement that Tayce T. was great and the Koops and Vivian were most certainly an item and when they reached the exit of the Maitre Delish tower they went their own separate ways.

U Goom Agricultural site

Time: 1pm

Lakilester, Waffles, Koopie Koo, Sheila, Patey, Heppy, Bronto and Buddy all stood on grass, the sun burned down rather harshly, and if you ignored the U Goom towers that were 600 meters away, and the occasional crying out over at the baseball pitch it did feel like a farm but it was really a field, there was a variation on grass length, soil, and a few trees growing around which most of the class felt like sitting underneath right now, if not for being asked to meet specifically at this spot.

"What is taking this freak show so long?" Waffles complained

Lakilester was thinking the same thing as he put his sunglasses on, the heat here was annoying although he'd experienced much worse in Mt. Lavalava, flower fields was never as hot as this.

Suddenly a ball came flying to them but it wasn't a baseball, it was a golf ball and it flew over the head of the class, and in the distance they spotted a red Yoshi holding a golf club in one hand and a bag in the other. The Yoshi approached and placed the golf club in a bag.

"My name is Master Shmyu and I shall be teaching the agriculture class this year. Firstly though, anyone here like golf?"

Nobody answered

"Shame… well I teach that if anybody cares. Let's move on shall we" Shmyu seemed rather short and sounded dull in his tone, he noticed the class seemed to be rather hot and covering their eyes from the sun's glare as he was standing behind the sun. "Well it seems that old man Gadd is actually rather resourceful, this sunlight device has speed up the growth rate…" The Yoshi pressed a button and the sunlight seemed to ton itself down considerably

Buddy already wasn't as happy with this class as he was with cooking even though he knew a lot more in this area. Completely unlike Tayce this guy seemed like a total misery to hang around. Waffles too wondered what this guy's problem was. Shmyu was rather young, definitely an adult but it wouldn't be by far. Sheila gave Heppy an unsure look wondering if this was such a great idea. She, Bronto and Heppy choose this class because they wanted at least one class together, they wanted at least one time where they'd be together as it could get hectic later on in the year.

"All I ask you today is to plant a basic fire flower and let it grow. It should be done by the end of the lesson, provided you do it right"

Waffles protested "What? Are you nuts? I've never done any of this stuff before"

Shmyu stared at Waffles in a patronising manner"Well, I'm sure you'll find a way to manage. I'm not particularly fond of training newbies"

Waffles went to argue some more but a Piranha plant gave him a tap to suggest against it "Don't worry, I'll help you" he whispered to the Yoshi, Waffles was seething in anger, ever since he got here he had been put down again and again. For the first time in his life he felt powerless, he couldn't resolve this problem with physical force which was all he knew. This was bad idea from the start and he'd have some words with Goombella after today.

Shmyu then continued "I will merely supervise from a distance but I won't help you on this simple task" he then fished out a bag of fire flower seeds and placed them all in a tub on the ground.

As the class went for the seeds, Koopie Koo approached Waffles "I'm sorry but have we met before?"

"Name's Waffles" realisation dawned on the Yoshi first noticing the hair "You're Koops girl… um… friend, but just a girl who's a friend… right?" Waffles remembered her, not her name, just Koops' friend who was a girl but not a girlfriend

"Well yes, I suppose one could view it that way" she resisted asking the tempting question of whether Waffles had seen Koops recently. Koopie Koo knew he was at U goom but she did not how she would deal with seeing him again, especially if that… other girl was present, which she probably was, especially considering that Waffles was here. She then nodded politely and walked away. Waffles stared at her for a while and didn't notice that the piranha plant had returned

"Okay I got us the seeds" he unfolded his leaf and seeds dropped out "I don't think too much of this Shmyu guy either, so don't worry, what's he asked isn't difficult. I mean haven't you ever planted a seed before"

Waffles shook his head and explained his short life story, including his time with Mario, then rejoining the Glitz pit until that fell through.

"No wonder you look so young, that is a really cool story. Anyway I'm Patey Piranha, you probably have heard of my much more idiotic brother Petey, your friend Mario gave him a well deserved beating a while back"

"I think I heard that name somewhere before. What do you have to do here, is it just like throw the seed in and hope for the best?"

"It's a fire flower seed, so obviously you've got to find the part of good soil that's also well exposed to sunlight. The more sunlight the more powerful the flower will be, but of course it doesn't always apply to flowers"

Patey and Waffles made their spots a fair distance apart as for Shmyu not to suspect anything, but Patey didn't believe he really cared, just as long as it was done. The others seemed to be making smooth progress, that didn't help Waffles either, he felt as if he was the dumbest guy in U Goom, which was probably true.

Putting that thought aside for a moment, Waffles looked at Patey as he was just watching his flower, it seemed to be odd asking plant advice, from a plant itself, but that said who'd know better "Now what, do we water it?"

"Definitely not, it's a fire flower remember. The sunlight serves as both the water and the sunlight. That's what a lot of other guys forget, and try to overdo the job, there is simply nothing else to do, except make sure you don't wait too long after it sprouts out, or it'll start spewing fire, a drawback with these quick growth seeds"

Despite the weirdness of what Patey was saying it did make a lot of sense but then something occurred to him "How am I going to work it out on my own… Shmyu seems to hate me. I just got this feeling he's going to make this really hard. I mean look at him, he's been staring at me the entire time, it's like I ate his kids or something" Waffles stared right back at Shmyu as if in a staring contest

"I don't think he likes anyone, but yeah he does seem to be looking at you. To be honest I'm looking at those dinosaurs, I mean I thought my brother was way too big for his own good, even he'd struggle to match these guys. Anyway Shmyu's just being an idiot though, be the mature one and just do what you've gotta do"

Patey watched his flower for a little longer and it suddenly grew out of the ground and into a beautiful 3 petal fire flower. It seemed he was not the only one, Lakilester and Koopie Koo seemed to be working together and heard them going on about their flowers. Buddy had his ages ago and already presented it to Shmyu who just put it down and let him leave. The Dinos too weren't long after Lakilester and Koopie Koo. Waffles patiently watched, Patey had not been wrong so far, the plant was clearly taking shape and any second now the thing would very rapidly sprout into a beautiful flower.

Sure enough, about 10 seconds later, it sprouted… while it did grow 3 petals it was rather uneven, one end was much bigger then the other, Waffles looked disappointed, he really wanted to shut Shmyu up.

"How'd it go?" Patey looked over and then noticed the flower "Is that…"

"Yeah, it's a total disaster, I probably placed the seed wrong"

Patey looked at the flower and took it off Waffles "You gotta be real good at sniffing out the right place to get something like this, especially with these quick growth seeds that we got"

Waffles snatched it back "Yeah right. Look I know you're only trying to make me feel better, but you're wasting your time. I should just stick with fighting, it's what I know and it's what I'm good at and nobody can make their own damn stupid judgements" Waffles left Patey standing there and walked dejectedly to Shmyu and handed the flower. The red Yoshi muttered something unintelligible and placed it with the other far more normal looking fire flowers.

Waffles then went to look something up, he needed his fix of violence for the day. Some got their relief out of caffeine, or chocolate, or games, or resting, watching TV or doing some kind of sport. For Waffles however nothing was better then letting off steam then beating the stuffing out of something, or watching something else aside him absorb pain. It was then he remembered an advertisement he remembered reading on the notice board.

Goomville

8pm

Ice Hockey dome

Bamma, Flare, King K, AJ and Andy all sat in roughly the middle part of the audience. It wasn't quite jam packed but it was far from empty and the crowd was still coming in.

Bamma looked around and took in the atmosphere "It's not Glitzville but it's certainly pretty neat"

AJ being the ice hockey nut he is, wore his local teams Jersey, it was coloured in mostly black and red "Glitzville is just a few guys beating each others heads in, this requires more then just pure strength"

King K laughed and put his arm around AJ's shoulder "Don't mind AJ, he can get a bit obsessive"

"Yeah… and to be fair I barely saw Glitzville, just a brawl, so I'm probably bias"

Bamma then noticed Waffles come down the stairs and he looked like he'd throw his fist into the first thing he spoke to… In Bamma's mind all the more reason to needle him "Somebody die?"

Waffles glared at him as he took a seat next to K "You might if you open your mouth one more time"

"Try me…" Bamma pulled his boomerang and gestured Waffles to come closer

Jamma rolled his eyes and tried to get the boomerang out ofhis partnershand "Not now… this isn't the time or the place"

Bamma put his boomerang down but Waffles had to taunt him again "That's right, step down you wimp"

Next thing Waffles knew was that he had found Bamma's boomerang in his face, totally unprepared he took it straight to his nose, he tried to get out of the way on the way back but his usual levels of focus and concentration had been totally thrown out of sync and he took the second hit to the side of his neck. Before Waffles could even make a counter attack he found K and AJ holding him from the front and the back. Jamma and Andy were holding Bamma back, although he didn't seemed that interested in carrying it on. The crowd around them were watching trying to stay out of the way.

Waffles struggled hard against the grip of the two Koopas, and it was apparent they had to try hard to keep a hold of him as Waffles kicked madly trying to escape "LET ME GO, that PUNK has got to go! He's an insult to your race for being such a cowardly jerk"

"Yeah well don't be an insult to yours by carrying this on and making a scene" AJ tried to reason with Waffles but he had clearly lost his self control by this point and went on kicking "Stop kicking me damn it!" AJknewhe had to let go as Waffles was about to swallow him and he ducked into his shell and went under the chairs just to evade Waffles tongue. This distracted Kgiving Waffles the chance to stomp on K's foot and was about to throw him over his head but in that entire process he seemed to regain some control and realised that he wasn't doing any harm to those he actually wanted to hurt, in fact he was only hurting those trying to help him. The crowd's eyes were now on Waffles and he realised he had to stop.

Bamma shook his head when he saw Waffles stop struggling "Another time then…"

A tense silence fell over them and the crowd who were watching, once K decided Waffles was calm enough and there was not as much attention on them he gave Bamma a look "Bamma man, would you stop tauntin' him, it's uncool. And YOU Gonzales Junior stop raising to him, come on let's go get somethin' to eat and split you two up"

Waffles seemed to agree and didn't say anything

The game started and it seemed the absense of Waffles and King K went unnoticed as Andy only noticed after 10 minutes had passed, but by then K had left a message via mailbox SP telling them that he had left the game with Waffles.

I warn you, these notes are rather detailed so, ignore them if you wish, but they will help you understand the story, and why certain things may not add up.

A/N1: Several people including myself believe the entire story about Beldam's kiss and make up routine is complete rubbish. If Vivian lived with Marilyn that's believable but Beldam, no, especially considering that Vivian stopped something that Beldam had spent nearly a thousand years waiting for. Beldam is ridiculously unforgiving it is totally out of character for her to forgive so easily. Grodus mellowing down is more believable, lacking a body tends to do that to you, but I even have doubts about Grodus, why introduce a new species just for one game? Same applies to the shadows.

To be fair to Nintendo though, Beldam is incredibly cunning, she could just be playing Goombella and Vivian along for all we know so there could be a reason aside from the 'happy ending' that Nintendo chose an ending that didn't… feel like an ending. For this to gain any credibility Nintendo would need to provide us with a sequel, where Beldam's true motivation behind the 'I'm all nice now' game is revealed. We know she sucked up to Grodus, but just what card is trying to play now, and above all why doesn't Goombella's normally cynical mind pick up on this? My thing is, what does Beldam want Vivian's trust for? WAY too much speculation and too many unknowns. So as far as writing this kind of fic goes it's just much easier to have it that Vivian doesn't know where her sister is.

A/N2: Beldam's line is in Better off Alone, I thought it was important for Vivian to be clearly still irritated by her sister, by what Beldam has done to her, and quite obviously I don't think she'd be mentally over it yet.

A/N3: For those of you who have watched Back to the Future (number 2 and 3 in particular), you'd know about the hover board. Or if you've played Sonic Riders, you'd know what I'm talking about.Also AJ seems prone to injury doesn't he?

It has mentioned in L09O that AJ is unlucky, its more then a coincidence ;), it's a concept of his character I had considered before but it doesn't quite fit into Legend of The 9 Orbs (LO9O), but fits perfectly here. Think of this idea like Kenny in South Park (although that isn't where I got the idea from but its very like that), except he doesn't get killed in almost every episode he features in, just injured.

A/N4: Maitre Delish is the author of the legendary cookbook Zess T. wanted/has. I felt it was only fitting to name a tower in U Goom after them.

A/N5: You know me and my thing about 'how can these poor creatures live without hands'. I decided to even up the playing field for them. Where as Nintendo allow Gadd to create paintbrushes that pollute islands, I allow him to make writing this fic easier as I don't have to think about how I'm going to word something for a creature without hands.

A/N6: Master Shmyu belongs to someone else, not on this website. He is a golf instructor seems pretty pessimistic and down but wait and see… he's got a reason for why he's doing what he does and why he does not seem to like Waffles.

A/N7: My fact file on King K and other relevant things, something at least two of you have asked for.

Michael is King K's Japanese name. In this fic (and others) I use it as his real name because KP Pete is probably another alias (and sounds a bit silly). In Japan Koopas tend to have more normal names, for instance Kolorado's Japanese name is translated to Charles, and quite frankly I like that, but I'll be sticking with Kolorado, which sounds better (for a change).

The names for Koops and Kooper however are more Japanese style oddly enough, I believe they have the equal of 'Koop' at the start of them, weird. It could of course be a lucky coincidence for Kolorado, as Goombella's name in Japan translates into Christine, even though she DOES have the equivalent of Goom at the start of her name.

However by this we can easily determine, that Michael while being a translation, there is no way he had any sort of nickname in Glitzville in the Japanese game, or at the very least it doesn't come close to being King K. Also notice his English given nickname is very similar to an infamous Donkey Kong villain King K. Rool, countless times I've had to verify I was talking about the Koopa and not the Kremling.

King K's story and development is rather interesting considering his role was very minimal. Originally he was to look like those basic plain brownish/red shelled Koopas you fight outside of Petalburg and he had the name of KP Koopa which was later changed to fit the entire team and another interesting thing we know for sure the Paratroopa on K's team dyed his shell yellow and yellow Koopas themselves haven't been seen in a very long time, whether K dyed his shell too remains a mystery, but I doubt it. King K back then had MUCH more of an ego (think Rawk Hawk or Yoshi/Waffles). However they developed him and he became the Koopa we know today.

There are other theories I have about King K and why they may have changed the direction they took him but its only theory and there is no hard evidence to back it up. I only like to tell fact, and the last paragraphs are all fact, anything else I could add would be only speculation and this has gone on way too long anyways, but hey that's one of K's appealing factors to me.

Well THAT was a lot, I do like my detail I suppose... thanks for sticking with it if you read it all.


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